Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes - The Splinter Cell Effect

Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes seems, above all else, safe, despite its subtle but significant changes. The prologue to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, which eases players to the main game’s open-world elements, introduces numerous new elements to the franchise, none of which stand out as exceptionally interesting on their own. In unison, one after the other, and in the context of the next Big Boss story, these changes shake up the norm, disrupting expectations with more modern systems. The stealth, action, interrogation, infiltration, and navigation mechanics feel familiar in ways that feel equal parts right and wrong.

When I left the debut gameplay demo of Ground Zeroes, one thought looped in my mind: This is an exceptional Splinter Cell sequel.

Kojima Productions still won’t disclose how, exactly, this prologue chapter factors into the main story. Is it on the same disc? Is Ground Zeroes a digital intro coming ahead of The Phantom Pain? Is it a separate retail product? Series creator Hideo Kojima dodged questions about this expertly, simply repeating, “This is the first part of the Metal Gear Solid V experience.”

You may already be familiar with what makes up Ground Zeroes: A prisoner camp, a boy, and a nighttime infiltration as seen in the trailer above. Paz and Chico -- the children from Peace Walker -- need rescuing, and your sole purpose is to grab and exfil. How that goes down feels decidedly un-Metal Gear.

The disinterested, disarming cadence of Kiefer Sutherland’s phoned-in performance flattens the roguish charm of Big Boss, creating a generic almost-tough guy lead whose gameplay traits draw more from Sam Fisher than Solid Snake. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing -- Kojima wants Phantom Pain to appear to “a global audience,” and the new form and function appear more accessible than Guns of the Patriots’ westernized yet still hardcore systems.

Boss sprints, slides, climbs, and tags enemies like Sam Fisher has since 2010’s Splinter Cell: Conviction. Aggression takes precedence over delicacy, but still plays an important role in slithering through shadows. He’ll hurl enemies from ledges too, but nothing feels more foreign in Ground Zeroes -- and by association, the whole of Metal Gear Solid V -- than the slow-motion executions.

Look at those next-gen...patches.

Naked Snake is looking good in his old age, but he'll no doubt start feeling age when Phantom Pain warps 10 years ahead to 1984.

Boss is sprinting around a camp, something that would normally require crouch-stalking (which you can still do, if you're a traditionalist).

That's a mighty fine crate to hide behind. You can also reposition that spotlight to make life easier.

New Ground Zeroes Gameplay Screens

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I’m terrified this neuters the importance of evasion.

Before a guard enters an alert state, you’ll get a button prompt indicating you’re busted. Hold the left trigger, and you’ll briefly freeze time, giving you the opportunity to pump a couple quiet bullets into an alarmed enemy’s eyeballs. It’s an elegant means of avoiding detection that comes with a Mark and Execute sense of style, but I’m terrified this neuters the importance of evasion. If Boss can simply stroll out in front of someone and guarantee a gnarly, up-close execution, what’s the counter-measure? Kojima emphasized that the demo was on a lower, still-untuned difficulty for the sake of my hands-off presentation, but it’s still something that concerns me deeply.

Ground Zeroes is deviating from what’s always made the series special to me. If you’re a Splinter Cell fan, you may be having deja vu. This has “Conviction” written all over it. Yes, it looks fast, and fun, and empowering. But it is absolutely not the Metal Gear you know. Its stealth is more about fluid, forward movement than patience and precision timing. I think it can work, but instinct makes me fear change.

What caught me off guard most, and what really cemented Metal Gear Solid as something that’s forever different, was regenerating health. Hardcore fans are used to tactical ration recovery, and cherishing the limited boost each food packet imparts on their HP bars. Fleeing from a loud fight -- which appears to rely heavily on lock-on aiming -- brings color back to the screen, indicating a new lease on life.

Again, this is new for the franchise, the norm for the stealth-action genre, and totally weird to watch.

The 24 minute demo -- which showed much of the same footage we’ve seen before, now featuring blazing combat and new character traits -- left me wondering what I’d just watched. The answer is simple, but conflicted.

Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain represent a strange new era for Metal Gear Solid, one where systems (finally) take precedent over the story, which Kojima’s previously stated plays a smaller role than ever. Big Boss is an easier badass to play, a man with newfound skills that enable him to get around a larger world and interact with it in more meaningful, accelerated ways.

Part of me hates seeing Metal Gear give into what everyone else is doing.

The rest of me -- the majority -- is excited to see if it works, and what kind of trouble it’ll let me get into.

The 24 minute gameplay demonstration of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain/Ground Zeroes was shown on PC to current-gen spec, representing the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game running at 30 frames per second. At Tokyo Game Show later this month, Kojima Productions will show a 60fps, next-gen demo of Ground Zeroes. Look to IGN for more starting September 19.